Family holidays in Florida – a tale of two holidays

Family fun at a florida theme park

With a two-centre family holiday, you won't need another holiday once you return home!

If you're tired of compromising on family holidays, a two-centre villa holiday may be the perfect solution. Gillian Thornton and family enjoyed the thrills and spills of Orlando, before relaxing on the beaches of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Floating through the hot summer sunshine, 800 ft above the Gulf of Mexico, my daughter and I agreed that this year, we really had found the perfect family holiday.

From our twin seat beneath the multicoloured parasail we looked down and took our last look at Clearwater beach, Florida, with its clean white sand and lines of sun umbrellas. Down at sea level, my husband and son enjoyed a final ride on jet skis before it was time to head home. It had been a fabulous family holiday in Florida for everyone.

All too often, family holidays are a matter of compromise with sacrifices all round in the name of peace. But we found the perfect solution in a two-centre holiday. Using self-catering villas, we were able to enjoy a hectic week among the theme parks and high octane thrills of Orlando before travelling west for a relaxing beach break on the Gulf Coast.

Orlando is in-your-face America. Bold, brash and manufactured. But accept that before you go and you'll have a ball. This is the place where they genuinely want you to – 'Have a nice day!' and you can do it from morning till night – if you’ve got the stamina.